On Jul 16, 4:33*pm, Fred wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:36:42 +0100, John Rumm

wrote:
Ah, nailing at the wrong angle it seems.

That's exactly what I am doing wrong. I suppose practice will make
perfect.

Start the nail about 1.5" up the stud - you can tap it in a little bit with the nail almost
horizontal to get the point in. Then bend it upward so that it is
pointing down at about 30 degrees from the vertical and drive it home.

I had a look at the nailers in the screwfix catalogue and I notice
they are angled at about 30 degrees too.

Re expense, the gas nailers cost a bit more to run since you need
bespoke nails and a gas cartridge.

I see the catalogue also sells batteries for them. What is this for:
to ignite the gas? Why do you need *replacements? Aren't they
rechargeable?

The pneumatic ones are cheap to run (a box of 3000 collated 90mm nails will
probably be £50 or so. (ebay will probably do you small quantities). However you need a small
compressor and airline to feed them.

As much as I can't resist an excuse to buy a new toy, even the
pneumatic ones seemed to be £300. Besides, I haven't got a compressor.
What DIY uses do you find for one? I always thought air tools were
more for work on cars? It must be quite cumbersome to drag a
compressor with you, or do you leave it in the garage and have along
airline dropped out of the window?

BTW is that what airline oil is used for? The first time I heard of
it, I thought it was something used in 747s!

Thanks.

We toe nail the bottom of each vertical stud. Use a heavy enough
hammer.
If it moves sideways you can block it with a piece of 2by4 or your
boot!
Or you can use screws and there are lots of tricks to holding the
studs in place on the mark for the initial nail.
One way is to construct the wall in sections flat on the floor driving
in 4 inch nails from 'below' the bottom plate and from 'above' the top
plate. Then raise the wall, in small enough sections or for say a
garden shed etc. you can do it solo.
I've never seen anybody use those metal 'storm' brackets here although
I s'pose you could.
Good luck.